Most recent articles

I don’t know if I should do anything, and I need some advice. I don’t want to go to a lawyer, I don’t even know who to go to. I don’t know if I should be joyful or upset or truly angry.

I was misdiagnosed, seriously misdiagnosed. I was told I had cancer six months ago. This was, as it would be for anyone, the worst possible news. I had been having some bowel complaints, and when I went to my doctor about them, he sent me for some tests, which apparently (and I emphasize apparently here) came back positive for pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer, for those who don’t know, is one of the really bad ones. It’s not the light skin cancer or breast cancer sort with high survival rates. People live, but it isn’t that common.

I was terrified, of course, and my doctor calmed me down and told me to go on some new experimental drug that might keep cancer localized. He sent me to a specialist he knew who was doing drug trials.

I took my drug dutifully while I went about all the horrible things I thought I could put off for a few more decades: drawing up a will, making preparations to say goodbye to some people, writing goodbye letters, getting my possessions and finances in order.

The treatment itself I don’t want to go into. Let me just say it was traumatizing in its own right. The only way I made it through was thinking it was my only shot at surviving this horrible situation.

I did all this, and my bowel complaint continued. No easing of that problem. I just assumed that meant the drug wasn’t working, which was another stress in an already awful situation.

All of that went on for six months. Then, just last week, my doctor sent me for more tests. Amazingly, the tests came back negative! Completely negative! I was ecstatic when the specialist told me, but he was confused. He said the drug wasn’t supposed to get rid of cancer, only to confine it. I was all set to just assume it was a miracle, but after this specialist went prying through my records, it turns out it’s likely I never had cancer at all. I got what he called a “false positive.”

So, no cancer. I’ve never had it. All of this awful time and the issue is probably just inflammation of the bowels or something.

I have no idea whose fault this is. Should they have run more tests? Is it my doctor’s fault for not testing for something simpler first? Or the specialist? Or was I just thrown into this trial for the statistics? Was it some awful joke?

Right now, the question most on my mind is, how should I feel about this?

Relief, of course. Joy? I don’t know. After spending six months coming to terms with my mortality, saying goodbyes, preparing for the end, how am I supposed to pick back up like this didn’t happen? Should I be angry first? Vengeful?

Many landscaping businesses market that a beautiful landscape will increase your property’s value; however, is this really true? Not only is the landscape of your home or business aesthetically pleasing, but you are, in fact, also instantly adding value to your home or property just by having a well-kept landscape. While there is not an exact number on how much of a return on investment you will see if you invest in your landscape, we can speak from experience and other home sellers experience. Investing in a landscape increases your curb appeal and you have the potential to have an estimated 5 to 20 percent increase in your property value. However, to ensure that you will receive a return on investment and add property value to your home, you should maximize the potential of your landscape by hiring a professional like our Naperville landscapers at Ware Landscaping.

Many property owners may fear that they will not have a return on investment if they invest in a skilled landscaper to landscape their property; however, in an interview with the Washington Post, John Gidding, the host of HGTV’s “Curb Appeal,” gives details of how he has personally seen the return on investments of landscapes that he has improved. He insists that an investment in landscaping can elicit a 150 percent return on investment but he thinks this is a conservative number. He goes on to state, “On a ‘Curb Appeal’ project, I put in $20,000 and the sellers got $200,000 more than they had paid for the house just a year prior. The return was astonishing.” However, if you do not have a lot of money to invest in landscaping, any bit of landscaping can help.

A tidy, well-trimmed yard, flowers, shrubs, and trees can go a long way in contributing to your new beautiful landscape. While landscaping sounds like a job you can do at home by yourself, landscaping requires professional help if you really want to maximize the potential of your property value. Our landscaping services include landscape design, landscape maintenance and renovation, and organic lawn care because we believe that you should have a beautiful and professional designed landscape that is healthy and safe.

If you are looking to sell your property in the near future, an investment in landscaping will not only attract more people to view your property but also potentially lead to a quicker final sale. Potential home and property owners are often first drawn to a beautiful landscape. If a home has an ugly or untidy landscape, then you are not as likely to have a good amount of potential buyers view your property. Hiring professional landscapers to take care of your landscape is a step in the right direction. At Ware Landscaping & Snow Removal, we believe in maximizing the potential of your landscape and our skilled landscapers have over a decade of experience in landscaping.

For many people storage units are an extra closet, a seasonal decoration staging ground, or even a garage. However, sometimes storage units become time capsules. Abandoned Storage Units are more common than people think and their contents can be as varied as can be. Many people have seen shows like Storage Wars where people participate in fierce bidding competitions over these potential treasure troves. Here’s a list compiled of all the coolest and strangest things that have surfaced from auctioned off storage units.

NASA Equipment: As seen on the show, Auction Hunters on Spike TV, a bidder walked away from a buy with a NASA clock and rocket. Both items were valued at over $1,500 which may not seem like a lot for space-age technology, but they probably have more sentimental value than anything.

An amputated Human Leg: This is one of the more weird things found and has a surprising tame story behind it. Apparently, the original leg’s owner lost it in a plane crash in 2004 and was keeping it in a meat smoker so that upon his death he could be buried with his leg. In the end, the buyer returned the leg to the owner who fell behind on their payments.

A James Bond Submarine Vehicle: Originally seen in the classic, The Spy Who Loved Me, this car was found in a Long Island storage unit bought for less than $100. The funny thing is that the buyer had never seen the movie and just thought it was a cool car until a random person told him it’s worth. In 2013 the car was sold to SpaceX founder, Elon Musk for about a million dollars.

Aretha Franklin’s Clothes: The award-winning R&B and Jazz singer Aretha Franklin said that all of the things in her unit were clothes she didn’t want anymore. In fact, she was present at the auction just to see what kind of clothing she had left in her unit. Most of the outfits were things from past stage appearances she had with Rod Stewart, Dustin Hoffman, and the Blues Brothers.

Storage Unit auctions only occur whenever a storage unit hasn’t been paid on for many months. This is to allow ample time for the owner to reclaim their goods before the storage unit needs its space back. It goes to show how secure these facilities can be if treasures like these can go hidden for so long only to return years later to fetch high dollar amounts.

Whatever you are using a storage unit for nothing can be as far-fetched as some of these finds. Storage auctions are a fun way to bring some long lost artifacts back into society. They are like modern day randomized treasure hunts because you never know what somebody wants to store.

Gyms are a wonderful resource for folks who are looking for a way to reach their fitness or weight goals. When people are blindly looking forward to workouts at their local gyms, they may not be thinking about the waivers they signed to protect the gym staff from liability in the event of strain or injury. Personal injury lawyer Rand Spear reaches out to these gym-goers in an article posted to the Justice News Flash discuss injuries and how to avoid them because accountability will fall to them.

Many people are simply looking to fit into their favorite jeans when the colder seasons hit, and everyone wants to feel good about their body year-round. It’s important to remember that overworking your body can lead to disastrous results, and patience and moderation are true virtues when the gym is involved. Intense workouts or excessive visits often lead to injury, and famous routines like CrossFit, Spinning, and P90X can even be life-threatening if a user is not up to the task. Dedicated gym buffs often experience dangerous diseases like rhabdomyolysis, which causes the body to retain water and the muscles to swell dangerously. In its late stages, kidney failure is common, forcing sufferers to go on dialysis or even experience death. It’s times like these that people will question the responsibility of the gym to prevent such disastrous injuries, but many waivers make this impossible.

CrossFit is one of many extreme workouts that has become popular recently, but the program is definitely not for people who are not already in the absolute best condition. Even the co-founder has stated that the program can kill participants. Gyms are required to have waivers for their participants to sign, but they’re often difficult to follow and poorly worded. Even in the event that a gym cannot be held responsible for your injury, what about the trainer that was working with you? What if the gym had a defective machine and they knew about it? Even in these situations, a waiver doesn’t mean much, as they cannot get away with negligence leading to injury, no matter how many documents you signed. In a world where healthy gym-goers are hospitalized after one Spinning class, personal injury attorneys exist to make sure your rights are protected. Spear believes that the best way to prevent such outcomes is to talk with a doctor before you work out. It’s a fairly cliche thing to say, but he believes it’s the best.

It should be common knowledge that you cannot go from a sedentary lifestyle right into intense workouts, but even healthy people are falling victim to negligent gyms, trainers, and misleading workout regimes. You can protect yourself from the gym and personal injuries by speaking with a doctor or a lawyer if you’ve already been injured during a workout.

According to one Business News Daily staff writer, “Live chats provide fast, on-demand customer support right on your website, giving you an opportunity to immediately address customer concerns, answer questions and even close sales before customers click away. In addition to speeding up customer support, live chat systems let you monitor visitor behavior to provide personalized service, convert browsers into paying customers and improve your website to increase sales.” (http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7025-live-chat-solutions.html)

Live chat is basically an instant messenger. It allows customers or clients to get quick and accurate answers regarding your products or services and their concerns. In this era, if you want your business to succeed and be considered seriously, then offering a customer service channel or live chat is important.

Whether you are a business firm that sells products or provides services, live chat allows you to build rapport with your visitors. It also offers a host of other advantages and benefits to both your business and clients or potential clients. Among the long list of advantages and benefits are the following:

Live chat offers convenience for clients right from your website. They do not have to leave your website to look for a phone or go to their email page. This convenience is what will enable you to build a strong relationships with your customers, as availability of assistance and the speed at which this assistance is delivered are the two most common reasons that people cite when asked about what makes them prefer one firm over another.

While live chat may be critical for answering customer issues, as a single wrong answer can damage your company’s image, it can also be effective for businesses looking to provide advice to clients who need services and why your service is a match to their needs and interests. With this, your business will more likely be able to address their concerns and, therefore, impact their confidence by staying with your firm.

Based on research, clients who use live chat platforms are three times more likely to avail of services. All they need is to be convinced that your firm is the right choice and feel confident that the services your firm provides is just what they need.

Lasso Live Chat is one example of a firm that offers live chat services. It is a 24/7 staffed live chat service that works primarily with cosmetic medical practices, legal services and other types of service firms. Its goal is to convert the visitors from your website into new patients or clients for your practice. In its website, this firms points out how important it is to attend to people’s needs immediately so that they will feel that their needs are met and their concerns are heard without delay or time-consuming protocols.

The Different Kinds of Product Liability Claims

Product liability is the legal liability of designers, manufacturers, sellers, or anybody else involved in trade, for putting a defective or malfunctioning product into the market. This is especially true if the said product has triggered an accident and has caused an injury.

According to the website of Mazin & Associates, PC, the root cause of dangerous products usually stems from three areas: a design defect, a manufacturer defect, or a lack of proper warnings and directions that demonstrate safe use of the product.

Design Defect

The design of the product can be called defective if it is inherently dangerous, if the product has useless features, especially if these features have the potential to cause harm, or if the product’s dangers are far greater that its benefits.

For example, if you have bought a metal fan and got your finger injured because the gaps between the fan’s cover are too wide, you may have a product liability case based on design defect in front of you.

Manufacturer Defect

Manufacturer defects are those that have been sustained during the manufacturing process, maybe because the manufacturer has been careless, reckless, or trying to cut manufacturing costs by using low-quality materials and hiring less-skilled workers.

For example, if you have bought a bicycle and crashed because the bicycle frame had a crack and snapped, you may have a legitimate manufacturer defect claim. It is also important to note that even if the manufacturer is diligent, it may still be held liable for unintentional defects in the product.

Lack of Proper Warnings and Directions

Some products can be dangerous even if they are properly designed and manufactured, such as coffeemakers and how they make consumers vulnerable to burn injuries and medication and how they can have negative interactions with other drugs.

These products should have the proper warnings for their risks, especially if these risks are not obvious. Having labels regarding the products’ proper usage is also important, because improper use may also result into accidents and injuries.